


Bright and Brief as Lightning

by yuletide_archivist



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-24
Updated: 2008-11-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 03:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1629185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five scenes in the life of Turin and Beleg. (Turin/Beleg)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bright and Brief as Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Ashbaria

 

 

 **Of the First Meeting of Turin and Beleg**  
  
Now in the autumn of the Year of Lamentation after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Beleg Cuthalion was hunting in the woods of Doriath.  And his thoughts dwelt greatly on that battle, in which so many had fallen, and his thoughts turned also to Beren and Luthien lost;  and his heart was sad under the golden leaves of Doriath.  Then he heard a weeping and a lamentation, and he recognized the voices of the Secondborn raised in woe, and he hurried to the sound.  
  
So he came to a clearing, and found there a group of Men, lost within the mazes of the Queen of Doriath.  And when Beleg come among them, they fell to their faces in fear before the sight of the Eldar, for Beleg was strong and puissant, and the light of elder days was ever in his eyes.  But one remained standing, a boy with dark hair and bright eyes;  and he stood straight and looked at Beleg with his hands clenched.  "I am Turin son of Hurin, and I have been sent to seek sanctuary with King Thingol for the sake of my kinsman Beren," he said.  "Hurt not these people, for they are mine."  
  
And Beleg was moved to pity by the bravery of one so young.  "Nay, never shall I do harm to you or aught of yours," he said.  "But I shall take you to the king in safety, and with all my heart."  
  
Then Turin smiled;  and it seemed to Beleg like a flash of lightning seen from afar, with the sound yet to reach him.  
  
And this was the first meeting of Beleg Cuthalion and Turin son of Hurin, in later days called Turambar, Master of Doom.  
  
 **Of Turin's Training in Doriath**  
  
By Turin's seventeenth year he had grown to be fair, dark of hair and gray of eye;  but he smiled rarely, and laughed even less often.  For his worries over his mother and the sister he had never seen weighed on his heart and made him grave of mien.  Yet those who befriended him loved him well, and Beleg Cuthalion was not the least of these.  He taught the boy woodcraft, and the art of the bow and the sword, and all the secrets of the wood he opened to him.  
  
Now in the spring of Turin's seventeenth year he was practicing archery with Beleg, the two taking turns aiming at a target together.  A great master of the bow was Beleg, and none above him;  his arrows striking always true to the heart of the target.  Turin was skillful was well, keen of eye and strong of arm;  only sometimes his bolts went awry from lack of patience.  
  
And Turin watched as Beleg aimed, his hands sure on the curve of the bow, his eyes steady.  "I am nearly a man now," he said.    
  
"Indeed," said Beleg, releasing the arrow to strike true once more.  "Your days of childhood are nearly over."  But he thought that Turin had never been truly a child but had come to them grave and solemn from his earliest days.  
  
"You have taught me well," said Turin.  "But there is one thing of which you have not taught me all I wish to know."  
  
At that Beleg laughed and chose another arrow.  "Well do I know how you yearn to study more sword-skill, son of Hurin," he said.  "But my strength is in the bow, and in the more stealthy arts of war."  
  
"Nay," said Turin.  "It is in no art of war that I desire tutelage from you now."  
  
And Beleg nocked his arrow and aimed, and answered Turin not;  but he felt the gray eyes of Turin on him, and his hand trembled, and his shot went wide of the mark.  Then Turin laughed low in his throat, but Beleg put down his bow and walked away, saying only:  "You are not yet a man."  
  
And Turin thought on these words for a long time, and then he went to King Thingol to request the Dragon-Helm of his father, and to be given leave to fight on the north-marches against the foes of Doriath.  
  
 **Of Turin and Beleg on the North-Marches  
  
** In the first battle Turinfought he wore the Dragon-Helm of Dor-Lomin, and the Orcs scattered like chaff before his vengeful sword and the terrifying light of his eyes, and their black blood soaked the ground.  That evening Turin came to Beleg's tent where he rested, and he cast aside the fearsome Dragon-Helm with a great clangor, and he held up his hands that were dark with blood.  "Truly today I am a man," he said.  
  
"It is more than killing that makes a man," said Beleg.  
  
"I am a man in all ways that matter now," said Turin, and he would draw nearer to Beleg.  And Beleg felt then that Turin's eyes were like a dragon's indeed, bright and imperious, with a fell glamor in them that robbed one of speech, but he shook his head, saying:  "This is a thing of shame, son of Hurin, that you ask of me."  
  
Then Turin dropped his hands.  "Shame?" he said.  "We are warriors and comrades, brothers in arms.  What has shame to do with us?"  But he pressed Beleg no further and left him, saying only:  "The days of the Edain are short and few, but we know patience."  
  
But Beleg sat in his tent alone and heard the echoes of his Doom like rolling thunder far away, and his heart misgave him.  
  
 **Of Beleg's Arrival Among the Outlaws  
  
** Of Turin's dispute with the Elf Saeros; and of Saeros's death and Turin's self-imposed exile, much is told in the _Narn i Hin Hurin_.  But Beleg went to King Thingol and Queen Melian, and begged their leave to seek out Turin, and reconcile him to Doriath;  and the King and Queen granted him leave, for they loved the son of Hurin well also.  
  
But Beleg sought Turin in vain.  Hearing of an outlaw calling himself Neithan, the Wronged, he searched the western marches of Doriath;  but Turin had learned from him well the arts of concealment, and he and his band were hidden well from Beleg.  Yet still Beleg searched, through a full circuit of seasons, yearning to find the boy he had trained and the man he had fought beside.  Dark and empty were the nights of Beleg, seeking always the gray eyes of Turin and the sound of his voice;  and his heart grew wild and heavy in his seeking.  
  
Now Turin had become captain of the outlaw band, though their ways were often vile to him.  For they were a cruel and a churlish lot, and yet Turin held them dear, for he felt that like him they had suffered greatly.  So he turned often a blind eye to their ill deeds, saying in his heart that they knew no better.  
  
Then Turin left the outlaws to spy upon the Orcs and ascertain their movements and numbers; and he left his lieutenant Androg in charge until his return.  And one evening while he was gone the outlaws were startled by a dark figure appearing in their camp, tall and mighty, and it was Beleg Strongbow, who had found them at last.  Then they leapt up, grasping at their weapons, but Beleg said only:  "I seek your captain, whom you call Neithan, and would speak with him."  And he held out his hands which were empty of weapons, but Androg cast a noose around him and seized him fast, and made him prisoner.  
  
To a great tree in the center of camp they tied Beleg Strongbow, and made much mock of him, to have a mighty one of the Eldar in their command.  And they lay cruel hands upon him, and used him ill, and visited many hurts upon him.  But Beleg cried out not at all at their tormenting, but said only:  "I seek Neithan the Wronged as a friend and a comrade and wish you no harm."  His noble bearing made them wax but more cruel and harsh;  and so they held him for two days of pain and anguish.  
  
Then Turin returned to the camp deep in the night unbidden, and in the light of the torches beheld his friend bound to the tree.  "Beleg, my brother, what has happened here?" he cried, as he rushed forward to cut loose the Elf.  And he turned on his band of outlaws in fury, and they shrank from his eyes in fear.  But Turin lifted Beleg's body in his arms and carried him to his tent, and there he tended his wounds and gave him drink, and he wept bitterly over the cruel harms that had been done to him.  "My shield-friend and my right arm," he cried.  "You are safe with me now."  
  
After some time, Beleg opened his eyes.  "Call yourself Neithan no longer," he said.  "For I have come to tell you that Thingol of Doriath has deemed you blameless in the death of Saeros.  Return to Doriath and the woods where once we walked together."  
  
Then Turin was silent long, staring at the face of Beleg.  "I cannot leave these men," he said.  "But I shall turn their energy to fighting the Enemy, and never more shall any lift hand against Elf or Man.  This I swear."  And he bowed his head and said, "Mayhap one day I shall then forgive myself for the suffering you have endured here."  
  
Then Turin rose and went to the door, and at the door he turned and said, "Well do I understand that the sight of the Secondborn must be hateful now to you, who have endured so much pain at our hands, so I shall leave you to rest in peace.  When you have recovered from your wounds, I shall give you such provision as you need and see you safely to the borders of Doriath."  
  
But Beleg answered:  "Stay with me.  For my body is weary, but more so is my heart;  and I find I can deny it no longer.  Stay with me, son of Hurin."  
  
And Turin stayed with him all through the long marches of the night, and held Beleg's hands in his, and watched his sleeping face as one watches a treasure beyond comprehension.  
  
And this was the first night that Turin passed with Beleg, but it was by no means the last.  
  
 **Of Beleg and Turin on Amon Rudh  
  
** Now Beleg and Turin were upon the mound of Amon Rudh, looking out from their new camp upon the land that lay around them.  It was autumn once more, and the _seregon_ was scarlet, blazing like fire upon the rocky hill.  
  
And Turin looked at Beleg and said, "I am happy."  Looking back from along the path, Beleg smiled to hear such words from one so solemn and grave;  for Turin said nothing lightly, and was ever serious.  But Turin said again, "I am happy," and his gray eyes looked upon Beleg with something like wonder.  "For you are fair, Beleg my brother.  And your beauty will brighten the woods and the streams of Beleriand long after I am bones mouldering in the earth, long after my soul has gone beyond the world to whatever fate awaits the Secondborn.  When I feel cursed by fate, when all my life feels shrouded in darkness, I remember that."  And he smiled, bright and brief as lightning.  "And then my soul is at peace."  
  
And so it was, for a season. 

  


 


End file.
